Ministers say no to EU drug stockpile

EU health ministers have failed to agree on plans for an EU-wide stockpile of antiviral drugs to help defend against a possible flu pandemic.

Health commissioner Markos Kyprianou had hoped the member states would agree to allow Brussels to collect its own stocks of antiviral drugs to complement national supplies.

Following months of discussion with member state health experts on the issue, the commission put forward a concept paper which set out the basic purpose and principles of the stockpile.

The aim was not to replace national stockpiles, which must continue to be compiled by every member state, but to have it as an additional and complementary resource.

But the ministers, meeting in Luxembourg on Friday, could not agree on the Cypriot commissioner’s proposals.

An EU official told EUPolitix.com that most member states had voted in favour of a European stockpile, but that the Dutch, Swedish and Slovakian health ministers had opposed the proposal.

“I very much regret that member states have failed to agree with the idea of establishing an EU strategic stockpile of antivirals,” Kyprianou said.

“The European commission has put a lot of effort into working on this idea and how it would operate in practice, and it is my view that such a stockpile could have given us reinforced defences throughout the EU, particularly in the early stages of a pandemic.”

“It is important that member states make every effort to build up their own antiviral stockpile, and the responsibility now lies fully with national authorities to ensure that there are sufficient resources, at the very least for the most vulnerable, in the case of a pandemic.”

Ever since the arrival of bird flu in the EU last year, health experts have been warning of a possible human flu pandemic if the virus were to mutate into a form transmissible via humans.

There would be no immediate vaccine against such a mutated virus, and general antiviral medicines would be the first – and only – line of defence, especially for at-risk groups such as the very young or very old.

The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has already caused several deaths in Asia, although the virus was passed from birds to humans.

Kyprianou is concerned at the major differences in antiviral levels among member states, with some smaller, poorer countries in particular thought to have supplies well short of those that would be required in the event of a pandemic outbreak.

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